Today was a busy one. We started off having breakfast at Common Loaf, a quaint bakery located in the town of Tofino. I had a delicious tomato and pepper quiche and a frothy hot chocolate. I highly recommend a visit to this bakery.
Apparently the scenery is beautiful here with majestic snow capped mountains surrounding the town. I haven’t seen them yet. The low lying clouds have covered them up and the air is cool and damp. We donned our rubber boots and rain coats and headed out for our day of beach discoveries. First stop, Chesterman Beach. We walked along the wide open beach to Frank’s Island, a great place to discover the tide pools. We found a great pool teeming with life; dozens of orange and purple sea stars and bright green anemoes.
The waves of the Pacific ocean roll in and crash on the rocks. This beach is one of the top surfing beaches in Tofino. As we walked back across the beach we discovered colourful shells and interesting creatures from the sea. The world renowned Wickaninnish Inn is situated on the edge of this vast beach.
Cox Bay was our second stop and another favourite surf site. The board walk from the car park to the beach is lined with moss covered cedar trees and colourful flowers. We watched the surfers try to catch a wave as we walked along the expansive sandy beach.
The edge of the water was lined with small velella velella jelly fish also called by-the-wind-sailor. The beach is laden with sand dollars that have been washed up by the sea. The Legend of the Sand Dollar is an interesting ancient myth.
We continued our journey driving south on highway 4 to the town of Ucluelet. Our first stop was the Amphitrite Lighthouse located on theWild Pacific Trail. Originally built in 1906 and rebuilt in 1915 with the current building where it sits on the top of the rocks. There is a magnificent view of Barkley Sound and the Broken Islands. We climbed up, down and over the rocks for a better view and to watch the water rush into a narrow crevice.
For lunch we stopped at Abbondanza Pizzeria where they make the best wood fired pizza. It’s as good as what you would find in Italy. We had the 5 cheese pizza. Delicious! If you are in Ucluelet you must stop for a slice of their amazing pizza.
Our last stop in Ucluelet was Wya Point campground located in the lush coastal rain forest on the edge of the world-famous Pacific Rim National Park. The campground has Yurt accommodation for glamping. The single Yurts are sparse with a sofa bed, dresser, table, water cooler and barbecue. The back porch has a couple of chairs and a fabulous view of the ocean and beach which is only a few steps away.
We headed back to Tofino and called it a day. It was a busy one with beach walks and climbing over rocks. I wonder what adventure tomorrow will bring.